(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to marine vehicles and more particularly to marine vehicle launch systems.
(2) Brief Description of the Prior Art
Underwater missiles and torpedoes are currently launched from either off the side of a manned ship or from the torpedo tube of a manned submarine. The current method of deploying undersea weapons requires the actual presence of the ship and/or submarine at the deployment site, thereby posing a number of dangers, including (1) exposure of personnel and ships to enemy fire in a danger zone, and (2) detection of ships and submarines in shallow water.
Various arrangements are described in the prior art for launching a weapon or other device from an unmanned vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,750 to Penza, for example, discloses a missile launcher including an elongate buoyant keel structure adapted to float upright in a body of water. The keel is provided with an azimuth and elevation sensing mechanism which controls a series of propulsive devices also placed on the keel and which give the launcher and an attached missile the desired launch elevation and azimuth positioning.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,192 to Tegel et al. discloses an unmanned submarine which is guided to the surface of the water in order to launch an air rocket contained therein and which is provided in its walls with closeable openings for the discharge of the rocket recoil gases into the surrounding water to conduct the impinging recoil gases of a launched air rocket directly out of the submarine. To create a lock for the recoil gas discharge openings which withstands high water pressures and is easily opened in the starting phase of the air rocket, the openings are disposed in the surfaces where the recoil gases impinge on the wall of the submarine, each opening is closed by a cover which is pressed out of the opening by the impinging gases, the seat for the cover in the opening is configured as an inwardly tapered conical surface, and the cover is held in the opening by a transport safety which is released by the action of the pressure of the recoil gases or the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,333 to Hagelberg et al. discloses an undersea vehicle storage and ejection system including a capsule having a cavity therein adapted to store and launch a vehicle. The capsule has an opening at one end for passage of the vehicle therethrough. A closure member is suitably adapted to be mateable with the housing at the opening to seal the cavity. A rocket unit is incorporated within the capsule to remove the closure member at launch. The closure member includes a sealing arrangement for withstanding the hydrostatic pressure when the system is in the undersea environment of use and block the entry of seawater into the cavity. The rocket unit, when ignited, rapidly builds up pressure within the capsule to a level exceeding the external hydrostatic pressure on the cover, thereby removing the cover so that the vehicle may be launched.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,545 to Hillenbrand discloses a vehicle known as an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). The UUV includes a weapon compartment and a control means. Within the weapon compartment are a weapon and a buoyancy chamber positioned axi-symetrically therein. The buoyancy chamber is initially empty and has sufficient capacity so that it can be loaded with seawater whose mass approximates mass of the weapon. The weapon compartment further includes controllable valve means for enabling seawater surrounding the vehicle to fill the buoyancy chamber. The control means controls the deployment of the weapon by expelling the weapon from the weapon compartment and thereafter controls the firing of the weapon. The control means further controls the valves during weapon deployment to enable filling of the buoyancy chamber to maintain a predetermined distribution of mass as the weapon is deployed, which filling-of-the-chamber acts with bilateral symmetry on opposing sides of a vertical reference plane through the vehicle""s axis. The mother vehicle generates command information for controlling the control means and receives unmanned undersea vehicle status information from the unmanned undersea vehicle and processes it for use in generating the command information. The communication link interconnects the unmanned undersea vehicle and the mother vehicle to facilitate transfer of command information from the mother vehicle to the unmanned undersea vehicle and to facilitate transfer of unmanned undersea vehicle status information from the unmanned undersea vehicle to the mother vehicle.
It is an object of the invention to allow a smaller UUV to be launched or jettisoned from a larger or host UUV.
It is a further object to mount the smaller UUV""s within the same diameter as the host UUV.
Yet another object is allowing the host UUV to launch the smaller UUV""s without adversely affecting its buoyancy.
Accordingly, the undersea launch platform of the present invention includes a host vehicle, which is preferably, a larger UUV having a generally cylindrical hull. A cradle projection extends from the hull of the host vehicle. A carried vessel, which is preferably a small UUV, is mounted on the forward axial cradle projection.
This launch platform would allow the larger UUV, preferably with a tactical diameter of 21 inches, to significantly expand its area of operation by carrying one or more small UUV""s. The small UUV""s could be launched individually at any time during the larger UUV""s mission. The smaller UUV""s, when equipped with sensors, i.e., sonar, oceanographic instrumentation, etc., could obtain data in their own region of operation and relay that information, via submerged acoustic communications submerged or surface radio communications, back to the larger UUV or another vehicle. This deployment and operation technique would substantially expand the area of coverage of the larger UUV.